"Kaido? No, you're Kaido's brat, Yamato," Aramaki said, frowning when he saw Yamato. He felt that something was completely wrong. Didn't the reports say that Straw Hat had defeated Kaido and that the Beasts Pirates were crushed? How could the Young Miss of the Beasts Pirates look entirely fine? Logically, after experiencing such a massive war, there was no way she should still be this full of energy.
"Marine Admiral Aramaki, did Akainu send you here?" Yamato asked, looking down at him with an indifferent expression.
"Watch your tongue, brat," Aramaki said with a ferocious look. After speaking, he slowly descended to the ground, and the large flower growing out of his body withered away and disappeared.
"Even Akainu wouldn't dare speak to me like that. Are you trying to pick a fight with me? Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to leave this place alive?" Yamato asked, looking down at him. She completely disregarded him. A person with the personality of a petty thug was nothing special, even if he had a bit of strength. He was probably just lucky to become an Admiral. Otherwise, he would have never had the chance to step into such a high position within the Marines.
"A mere pirate, you're really arrogant. Do you actually think you're Kaido?" Aramaki asked, his expression darkening. At the same time, vibrant flowers and thick grass began to grow rapidly on the ground under his feet, and a lush green patch soon appeared in the wasteland.
"Oh, that's not bad. Your ability is actually very suitable for planting trees. If you came here to help Wano Country with its environment, I think the people would welcome you," Yamato said, glancing at him sideways.
Hearing this, Aramaki's face turned completely black with anger. "Stop talking nonsense! I'm here to capture all of you!" He roared loudly and directly activated his Devil Fruit power. His body expanded rapidly, turning into a giant, towering tree-man.
"Capture us? You really dare to say that. Then I'll play around with you for a bit. Try taking a few moves from me first. First move, Heat Breath!" Yamato said. She opened her mouth wide as a bright crimson light constantly gathered in her jaws.
A scorching crimson beam shot out of her mouth, instantly hitting the giant tree-man that Aramaki had transformed into. The blast pierced straight through the wooden body, and a violent explosion occurred, shattering the entire tree-man into countless burning pieces.
"You're really no good at this. You can't even block a single one of my moves. Aramaki, you didn't get your position as a Marine Admiral through connections, right?" Yamato asked with a playful expression.
Amidst the scorched earth, a small seed suddenly sprouted from the dirt, and a person emerged from it. It was Aramaki. His expression was incredibly gloomy. He was a user of the Logia Type Mori Mori no Mi, and his ability was already awakened, but facing fire-type attacks still dealt a significant amount of damage to him, even if fire could no longer be considered a perfect counter to his advanced powers.
The next second, Aramaki's body expanded again, quickly turning back into a giant tree-man. He raised his wooden hand, and countless sharp branches rushed up toward Yamato.
"Interesting, let's try this again," Yamato said. She didn't even bother to dodge the incoming attack. She opened her mouth and spit out a golden variant of her Heat Breath, which was filled with crackling lightning.
The rushing branches were completely engulfed by the golden beam and directly destroyed. The lightning-infused blast landed squarely on Aramaki, piercing through his tree-man body once again and causing another violent explosion. His wooden form shattered into pieces for a second time. He simply didn't have the strength to block Yamato's attacks.
"Aramaki, you still can't take this second move. If nothing else, you could at least try to dodge. Oh right, I forgot that you're too big and clumsy, so I'm afraid you can't move fast enough. I really have to wonder how you even became a Marine Admiral. You're way too weak," Yamato said, continuing to mock him.
To be honest, Yamato hadn't expected an Admiral to be this easy to deal with. If she were fighting Akainu, Kizaru, or Aokiji, that would definitely not be the case. They were all Logia users, so why was this Aramaki so lackluster? Perhaps his specific Logia ability was inherently inferior to the previous three Admirals.
"Damn you!" Aramaki shouted. His figure grew out of the ground again, his face looking even darker than before. Although his ability was a Logia Type, he still couldn't leave the earth. Facing an opponent like Yamato who could fly high in the sky, he was at a massive disadvantage. Coupled with the sheer ferocity of her attacks, his tree-man form couldn't withstand the damage, making it even harder for him to launch a counterattack.
"Oh, you grew back again. It seems your ability isn't very useful against aerial targets. If it were a ground-based opponent, I'm afraid they'd find your power a bit troublesome. Unfortunately for you, I am a dragon," Yamato said lazily.
Hearing Yamato say this, Aramaki was absolutely fuming. This was a display of blatant contempt.
"Forest Hell!" Aramaki roared in a fury. He plunged his hands deep into the soil, turning them into thick roots.
Suddenly, the earth surged violently, and countless massive tree roots grew at an incredible speed, shooting up from the ground like giant pythons. Thousands of these wooden snakes rushed directly toward Yamato in the sky. Looking down from above, it looked like a dense, packed pit of snakes springing upward.
"I want to see if you can even catch up to me," Yamato said. She didn't counterattack immediately. Instead, she flew higher into the sky. She was a bit curious to see how far Aramaki's attacks could extend and what his maximum speed was like.
Seeing Yamato fly higher, Aramaki was stunned for a moment. "Trying to run away? No way!" He exerted all his remaining strength to drive his Devil Fruit power, making the roots extend continuously as they chased after her.
"Your speed is just average," Yamato said, controlling her flight speed while keeping an eye on the wooden roots behind her. At first, the growth speed of those roots was quite fast, but after a while, they slowed down considerably. The growth speed simply couldn't keep up with the distance. When the tree roots reached a height of over 1,000 meters, they couldn't extend any further.
Yamato stopped flying and turned around to look down at the vines. "This is your limit? Not bad, at least you managed to climb over 1,000 meters. Next, it's my turn." She looked at the roots and opened her mouth wide as a bright cyan light gathered in her throat.
A powerful cyan beam of light shot out, colliding directly with the rising forest. The beam acted like countless sharp blades, shredding the thick roots into fine powder. It was completely unstoppable, piercing all the way down to hit the source on the ground. With a loud boom, a massive explosion rocked the earth.
Inside Onigashima, the high-ranking executives of the Beasts Pirates walked outside, looking toward the source of the commotion.
"Who is the Young Miss fighting out there?" everyone wondered. During the previous war, their Young Miss hadn't made such a loud scene. Moreover, the location seemed completely wrong. It didn't look like anyone from the Flower Capital was attacking, but rather like an enemy from the outside world had entered their territory.
"I'll go take a look," King said. He was curious to see who it was, so he transformed into his animal form and flew out. Soon, King arrived at Yamato's location. "Young Miss, are there enemies here?" he asked, glancing at her before looking down at the ground, though he couldn't spot anyone.
"Yeah, Marine Admiral Aramaki came here looking for our Beasts Pirates. But it's fine, this Admiral is very lackluster. I'm just playing around with him," Yamato nodded.
Hearing his Young Miss's words, King was left completely speechless. Was this a joke? Were the current Marine Admirals really all this weak?
"Damn pirates!" Aramaki shouted as he grew out of the ground once again. Although he wasn't physically injured, his face was incredibly dark. Being blasted into dust by Yamato three times in a row made him feel like he had lost all his dignity. Hearing her call him lackluster made him even more furious. Since becoming a Marine Admiral, when had he ever suffered such humiliation? Even a former Shichibukai had been easily taken down by his hands. He didn't expect to run into such a tough nut to crack before his capture operation could even begin.
"Alright, Uncle King, you can go back now. I'll send this guy packing and join you shortly," Yamato said.
"Alright," King nodded. He glanced down at Aramaki one last time before turning around to fly away.
Yamato looked back at Aramaki and casually flicked her nails. "Aramaki, do you have any other moves left? Go ahead and use them all. However, to be honest, your Devil Fruit ability poses absolutely no threat to me. I don't know what your Haki level is like, though. At a time like this, if your ability isn't working, you should show off your Haki instead. Since you're an Admiral, your Haki can't be too low, right?"
"Shut up! I don't need a pirate to teach me how to fight!" Aramaki yelled, getting even angrier. Was she treating him like some kind of street performer?
As soon as he spoke, he raised one of his hands and turned it into a dozen thick tree roots, extending them toward Yamato like tentacles. The sharp tips of the wood were completely coated in black Armament Haki, turning them into deadly spears.
"That's more like it. Let me test your attack. Don't worry, I won't even dodge," Yamato said. After speaking, she stayed completely still in the air, watching the roots pierce toward her.
The dozen black roots slammed hard into Yamato's body, causing bright sparks to fly through the air.
"Are you just tickling me? Your strength is way too weak. Put some actual effort into it, Aramaki. You aren't feeling weak at such a young age, are you?" Yamato asked. Her body only vibrated slightly from the impact, but she didn't take any damage.
"What?!" Aramaki muttered, widening his eyes in shock. All of his attacks had hit Yamato directly, but his opponent was completely unharmed.
"I used advanced Armament Haki, and I couldn't even break through her dragon scales. This girl is a complete monster. However, since your defense is so high, my specific ability is perfect for dealing with you," Aramaki thought to himself. His ability allowed him to ignore high defense because his roots could pierce directly into an enemy's body to drain their life force.
The next second, Aramaki released the Armament Haki from his roots and stabbed toward Yamato again, hoping to pierce her skin.
"Good for you, Aramaki. You have zero martial virtue, trying to play dirty with me, huh?" Yamato said, immediately sensing his intention. She easily dodged the attack and unceremoniously rewarded him with another massive Heat Breath.
With a loud boom, Aramaki was blown into dust once again.
"Go ahead and regenerate. I want to see exactly how many times you can pull yourself back together," Yamato said, a playful look flashing in her eyes as she began to continuously bombard him from above.
Inside Onigashima, the rest of the crew could clearly feel the constant vibrations from the battle.
"King, what is Yamato doing out there?" Jack asked, full of curiosity. With Yamato's immense strength, what kind of opponent could she possibly encounter to cause such a ruckus?
"It's nothing. Marine Admiral Aramaki is here, and the Young Miss is just playing around with him," King explained calmly.
The crew members were all stunned. A Marine Admiral? And she was just playing with him? This couldn't be a joke, right? Was an Admiral really that bad?
"This is perfectly normal. Although Aramaki is a Logia user, his ability controls plants, so his raw lethality isn't that strong, especially when dealing with aerial targets," King explained. The others understood immediately. No wonder King said their Young Miss was just playing with him.
"Alright, if there's nothing else to do, go get some rest. We will be leaving Wano Country tomorrow morning," King told everyone before turning to leave. The other pirates also walked away. Since there was no real danger, they didn't worry about the fight.
In the end, only Black Maria and Haruko were left standing outside.
"Haruko, how long do you think Yamato is going to play around out there?" Maria asked, sitting down and lighting her tobacco pipe.
"That completely depends on how long the other party can last. If his temper is as bad as it looks, I guess he'll be so angry that he'll be jumping around soon," Haruko replied, easily guessing Aramaki's situation.
"That's true. All powerful fighters have a lot of pride, especially a Marine Admiral," Maria said, exhaling a soft puff of smoke. In her opinion, it would be impressive if Aramaki could even last half an hour under that kind of treatment.
Under Yamato's continuous five-minute bombardment, a massive crater was left in the earth, measuring over 100 meters wide. Inside the deep pit, Aramaki regenerated his body for the umpteenth time, glaring up at Yamato fiercely. "You bastard, how dare you humiliate me like this!" Although her attacks couldn't actually kill him because of his fluid Logia form, the sheer humiliation was extreme.
"What can you even do about it? Little Aramaki, it's not that I look down on you, but your ability really doesn't threaten me at all. And from what I can see, your Haki level is just average. At most, you're at the level of an Admiral candidate, if not lower. With someone like you, I could easily take on ten at once, believe it or not?" Yamato said, curling her lips.
"You—you've completely angered me!" Aramaki roared. Hearing Yamato belittle him to absolutely nothing, his eyes turned blood-red with rage. His body expanded rapidly, turning into a giant tree-man once again. This time, his wooden form was twice as large as before, standing almost 200 meters tall.
"Oh, are you going berserk now?" Yamato asked, looking surprised by his sudden change in posture.
"Get down here!" Aramaki roared, throwing a massive wooden fist directly toward her. With his current size, he could finally reach her position in the sky.
"Stop making such a racket out here. Are you trying to scare people in the middle of the night? Take this move from me, Divine Dragon Tail Swipe!" Yamato yelled. She swung her body violently, whipping her slender dragon tail forward.
The pink dragon tail collided heavily with the giant wooden fist, causing thick streaks of black and red lightning to burst out in the air.
"Ah—this is Conqueror's Haki!" Aramaki screamed. He felt as if his fist had slammed directly into solid iron thorns, and it hurt so much that he quickly retracted his hand. "Damn it, is this Wano Country's Ryuo?" Aramaki muttered, immediately understanding the advanced method Yamato was using to attack him. Flowing Haki could pass directly through the surface of an object to destroy the interior. If someone wasn't a true master of Haki, it was incredibly difficult to use such a technique. Moreover, Yamato wasn't just using regular Haki; she was infusing her strikes with Conqueror's Haki, which actively suppressed his Devil Fruit powers.